Young Charlie always had a fondness for nature. When he was a young boy he was known to be outdoors for most of his days. You see, Charlie loved animals. He loved them even more than his fellow humans.

But as young boys always do, Charlie grew up into a man. And his love for animals made way for his first love affair with Rose. Rose just wandered into his life on somebody else’s wedding. He was smitten from the start. Sure, she had a facial hair problem, but Charlie didn’t care. After all, she had a balcony, and he needed to put up his antenna.

When the relationship turned more serious, and there was talk of a marriage, neighbours told him: read more

I was eagerly awaiting the 6 o’clock news yesterday. I was waiting for Jack Layton to come on again. I saw him on that very same news show on January 12ish, when it was a nice and balmy 10 degrees out. He was sitting on his Toronto rooftop patio in his summer jacket, and he said “I am here outside, in the middle of January, with my summer jacket on. Clearly, there’s something wrong here. This is a global catastrophe!”. So, since yesterday was the coldest March 6th EVER in eastern Ontario, with Pembroke going down to -32 overnight, I thought I’d see Jacky on his Toronto rooftop again, with sixteen winter coats on, freezing his ass off, saying “It’s read more

CSI Miami: a lunatic has a nuclear bomb. Ryan is sitting behind a computer, Caine is standing behind him.
Caine: Ryan, can you find out the most optimal location and weather condition to detonate a nuclear bomb in downtown Miami with maximal damage?
Ryan types in: “optimal weather condition” onto a computer search engine. Computer comes back with “Blue Lakes Park, 4 p.m.”
Caine: That’s fifteen minutes from now… let’s roll!

I certainly do. Is it annoying when you’re talking to people and they do this sort of thing? It sure is. Should people that constantly asking themselves questions and answer them be in an insane asylum? I don’t see why not.

Wolfsburg, Germany, home of the most advanced car factory in the world. Called ‘Autostadt’, it is a combination of museum, amusement park and good old fashioned car factory. The Autostadt’s primary mission is what’s called car “collection,” where buyers take possession of their new VWs. Up to 40% of European buyers make the trip to Autostadt to receive the keys to their new car in a bonding moment of great ceremony.

Not surprisingly, this process has an architectural component. New cars are stored in two 20-story cylindrical glass towers, each of which has a robotic car lift in the center. At the appropriate moment, the robotic arm plucks the car from one of the honeycomb-like cells and brings it to the read more

The website for Life Cycle is up (http://www.life-cycle.ca) It is a project initiated by my step-son Christopher and his friend Katie. They plan to bike across Canada this summer in support of Cancer research. Going to their website will enable you to read more about their endeavour, donate to their cause, keep updated on the planning stages, and follow them across the country as they blog along the way.

They hope to raise at least $7000, that is a dollar per kilometre. Good luck!

This is our 8th wedding anniversary. Yes, I know, eight years is a long time to be married…

Here’s to another eight.

(only kidding Jo! xoxox)

If you ever go to the Ottawa area, or Pembroke, Petawawa or anywhere in between, you would do yourself a favour by visiting the Rocky Mountain House in Renfrew for pork schnitzel. It surely is the best in the area. Enjoyed another helping the other night. Fried to a golden crisp by a real German, (they know how to cook a good schnitzel) Hans has given us a place to eat in the valley. Visit http://www.therockymountainhouse.com for more info. 

In the Funny Overheard Conversations file:

Hans to customer: It’s like when you’re running with a knife in your hand and you round the corner and you run into someone and you kill the wrong person…

Since winter has finally arrived in Canada, and all Global Warming talk has ceased, the all knowing leader of leaders, Jack Layton, has picked a new cause. No, it is not world hunger, imminent nuclear threats, air pollution, water pollution, crime or poverty. No, it is the ultimate threat to decent society: banking fees on ATMs that belong to banks other than your own. The $1.50 that you have to pay for being so lazy that you could go to an ATM that is owned by your own bank, but decided to go to the other guy’s ATM that is three steps closer to you. It is $1.50 you pay so you can get money out of a machine where read more